Emy's Escape
by Gottfreid Entekafig
Summary: The Emir of Timbuktu has been captured by Arkangel and is force to work as a slave. Until he meets a new friend Anna Fang, They plan their escape together but everything seems too easy to be right. There is something not quite right. Can Emy work it out?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

In Arkangel the engines never sleep, the wind howls through their giant pistons as the city rattles along across the ice. Beneath hundreds of meters of steel lay 100,000 bodies, mostly half-naked and freezing to the metal that they call their bed. Another 100,000 shovel the coal into the giant furnaces that power the pistons. These are Arkangel's slaves.

Among these slaves who were now sleeping sat one, a young boy. It was his first night there and he couldn't sleep. He missed his parents; he missed his bed, the comfy four inches of goose feathers. He looked at his tattered trousers. They were once bright red. The boy liked red; it reminded him of his father's armies. Their bright red uniform for fighting. They said it was to hide the blood, but the boy knew it just because it looked pretty.

He huddled up to WakTu. WakTu was the only survivor of the crash. He was the boy's friend, his only friend. WakTu's warmth made him feel better and he began to drift off into a sleep dreaming of his father's armies marching to rescue him their dark green shields and their red togas. One way or another he would survive.

Timbuktu whistled along the sands of Afrika. A specially designed rod in front of the city melted the sand into glass which the giant lumbering city then skated along. His grandfather's top alchemist had developed this many years before: TipooSun. His own alchemists were of no match, there chemical excellence was poor, they barely understood the principles of flight and black powder yet alone how the adapted Old Tech melted sand so quickly and thoroughly.

The Old king was sad, his Grandson, his last surviving heir was missing. The airship which was to carry him to Kairo then to Alexandria was missing. Last contact with the _Koramba Prize_ had been some 13 hours ago. The insta-message had read:

**Begin Transmission**

**Mayday, Mayday, Mayday**

**Multiple Targets:**

**3 Black Airships, size category 12**

**5 Black Airships, size category 2**

**Loss of engines 1, 2, 4**

**Severe damage engine 3**

** Co-Ordinates, A123, B943, C754 **

**Gott Steh Mir Bei**

**End Transmission**

It wasn't looking good the sultan confessed to his chief of staff.

"Sir, we dispatched _Sultan Topaas_ to the scene 3 hours ago, she should be reporting back any minute soon"

"They were hundreds of miles of course, no, even thousands..."

"We know nothing yet sir, I am sure it was a simple misunderstanding, he will be fine"

"You know we are all loyal to your cause sir, the legions of Sultan Timbuktu will stop at nothing to get him back"

"It might be too late for that... Now leave me in peace I wish to relax"

The Sultan entered his bed chamber. He looked around at all his wives and smiled. He wandered over to Tara. She automatically widened her legs for him revealing no underwear beneath her skirt. She giggled as he lent in to kiss her.

4000 miles away in the gut of Arkangel a sharp boot awoke WakTu and Emir Timbuktu. WakTu was up far quicker than the Emir and Helped the young boy up. Despite being fourteen years old the boy was weak from a life as an Emir. A burly man walked along the rows of people and clamped them together into chain groups of eight.

"Lucky you're with me eh? Emy?"

Emy, was Emir's pet name from WakTu, though he disliked it he preferred it to Emir Timbuktu especially in this place. Emy liked being around WakTu, it made him feel safe. He imagined WakTu taking on and killing all the people around him, then after a hair-raising chase up through the city to jump onto the _Sultan Topaas_ and to be taken away home to his bedroom full of all his toys and bits of old tech. Emy was nudged out of his daydream by WakTu. WakTu had a unique knowledge of when Emy was daydreaming, for once it was useful. The man who walked out, Emy first thought was a beast, but he quickly realised the man had the strangest blue skin Emy had ever seen. On closer inspection it transpired that the man had lots of symbols written all over his skin in the strangest blue ink. Emy was scared by this man, he didn't even look scared by WakTu like most people were.

Emy had never held a shovel in his life, he picked up the blunt instrument and began, as best he could, to follow what everyone else was doing. Shovelling black stones into a roaring fire. Emy began to think to himself that he was going to be fine but after less than five minutes he was soaked in sweat and his back hurt. Emy sat down. Almost instantly there was a searing pain across his back. WakTu turned around to try and stop the man but WakTu was stopped by five other men. Another blow across Emy's back, then another, and another. It all went dark for Emy

As Emy woke, he found the most beautiful face staring over him. Short black hair with a white streak running down over her fringe and covering one of her eyes. The face smiled at him.

"Hello, don't worry, my name's Anna, Anna Fang" This face said to him

Emy said nothing transfixed by the beauty of her face, her narrow eyes seemed to be penetrating him, reading him just like a book.

"What's your name?" asked Anna trying to get something out of him.

But still Emy said nothing, staring at her beautiful lips so thin and dark they almost blended into her face. He longed to kiss those lips. He had kissed his concubines before but never had he so badly wanted to kiss lips like these

"Do you speak?" Anna asked stifling a giggle.

"Yes, yes I do... just..."

"Just what?"

"Have you seen WakTu?"

"Wak who?"

"My friend.. Big guy, dark skin, you wouldn't want to mess with him.."

"Don't worry he's still working, still you haven't told me, what' your name?"

"Emy" Emy replied his eyes returning to hers

"What a funny name, is it short for something"

"Yes, well it's a bit embarrassing..."

"Go on, please!"

"Emir Timbuktu"

"You come from Timbuktu!" Anna almost shouted with a look of delight on her face.

"Yeah, but our airship got attacked by.."

"What's it like in Timbuktu, eh?" Anna said interrupting him

"Oh it's beautiful..." at this Emy's eyes began to well up. He felt himself go redder, through embarrassment, shame and sadness.

"Oh don't cry, I didn't mean to upset you just.. Come on, here here" Emy felt a warm pair of arms tighten around him, this made him feel happier. "Do you want me to tell you a secret, I am leaving here soon, and I will take you and WakTu with me, if you promise me to not tell anyone, not even WakTu. I will come and get you when I am ready to leave, we shall leave by airship then drop WakTu off in Timbuktu and travel of from there. We will go to Nova Maya and live our lives on the Trade winds, okay!" It all seemed so fantastical to Emy that he couldn't believe it were true. Was she just saying this to make him feel better.

"That sounds fantastic..." Emy began as he tried to sit up before crying out in pain.

"Here let me look at your back, ooh dear he did give you a nasty whipping didn't he.. Here let me put this ointment on it... there that should help but, there is some good news you can't work for a few more days! I must be off now I have to meet someone, you get some rest, and remember, tell no-one!" With a wink and a smile she was off leaving Emy smiling and happy. Emy closed his eyes and fell back to sleep, a lot happier than before.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

The _Sultan Topaas_ arrived at the scene of the crash. The huge lumbering airship landed and members of the elite guard fanned out. They began to search the area.

**Begin Transmission**

**Arrived at:**

** Co-Ordinates, A123, B943, C754 **

**Clear sign of struggle**

**Four down category 2 airships**

**1 downed category 12 airship**

**Wreck of _Koramba Prize_**

**Pilot crew dead, no sign of the Emir and WakTu**

**Many dead tallarn desert raiders**

**Collecting remains for further analysis and burial**

**Gott Steh Mir Bei**

**End Transmission**

The Sultan sat down and cried, his grandson, his only heir was dead. There was no doubt about it. All around him the banners of Timbuktu changed from beautiful reds and greens into black. He had already declared a day of national morning. He would welcome home the bodies as national heroes. He had already decided that. There was to be full funeral processions down the main street as if it was his own funeral. This would be a day for national morning more than ever.

Emy woke ready for his second day of work. He was keener than ever to prove how tough he was, and even if he wasn't tough enough he would be able to return to see her with being injured. Emy always liked his plans, they always worked.

WakTu was surprised to see him, and began to tell him off:

"Emy, what are you doing here? You are the Emir you are not meant to work, and you are injured. Return, this instant, to your bed!"

"WakTu, I have spent my whole life on a couch surrounded by my concubines, I have never once got off my fat lazy arse and done anything... I am here to prove to myself if not anyone else that I can do something physical." At this WakTu seemed rather shocked at the level of commitment Emy was showing. So Emy stayed and began his work shovelling the black rocks into the furnace, but he was careful not to overdo it. A full 4 hours later Emy was regretting his decision, at home he would have had breakfast, elevenses and brunch by now, today he had had nothing. But Emy still struggling on. The black rocks were covering him in a thick film of black dust which mixed with his sweat to form a strange hard layer all over his skin.

That night Emy was so desperate to see Anna again but so tired, he didn't know what to do. In the end he was so tired that as soon as he lay down he went to sleep. His dreams entailed him and Anna escaping on the bird roads and visiting the world before returning to Timbuktu to be married and rule the city. The dream came to an abrupt end when Emy was woken by WakTu for another day's work. Emy's back was killing him, the cuts from his beating had become infected and the muscles hurt from the sheer physical exertion of yesterday. WakTu saw the huge read cuts on his back filled with the black rock soot and oozing a disgusting clear liquid that crystallised a golden yellow.

"Emy you are not working today, you are going to see that nurse again, this instant. And if you so much as disagree I will frog march you over there myself."

"You can't do that to me, I'm the Emir!"

"Yes, but I work for the _Sultan_ and he put me in charge of looking after you, not making you happy, but I do my best to do both. This is an instance where you listen to me and ensure that I look after you not make you happy. Do you understand me?"

"Yes WakTu" Emy replied rather taken back by WakTu's sudden outburst.

So that morning Emy found himself staring into those beautiful brown eyes.

"Hello again" Anna started a conversation trying to remove the awkward silence between them

"Hi" Emir replied in a quiet voice his eyes moving down past her face to rest on the two little peaks poking through her top.

"Stop it," Anna said seeing him staring "you're making me feel awkward" Both Anna and Emy blushed more than ever. "Any way what's up with your back?" Emy turned around and showed her keeping his eyes firmly planted on the ground. "Ooh dear, that does look bad, let me put some more stuff on it. There there, that should do. Now you lie here and I will be back for you, I've just gotta go somewhere okay"

"Where"

"To get some things for our escape plan okay!"

"Oh, can I come?"

"No, two people missing would be too suspicious"

In that instant she leant over and placed a small kiss on Emy's lips, Emy's eyes lit up in surprise and then enjoyment, to Emy it seemed to last forever, but too quickly it ended and Anna stood up, removed a grill from the vent and disappeared down the vent. Emy lay there wondering where she had gone, then made up his mind and followed her.

The vent was too small for a grown man but Emy slipped in neatly and crawled along silently listening for Anna's every move. The vent was hot at first but as he crawled along it he found himself getting colder and colder. But he still pursued Anna. The Vent came to an end, and by the time Emy had got there the vent grill had been removed and Anna had gone. Emy climbed out of the grill to find himself in an old book shop, all around him stacked 30 feet off the ground were books of ever colour imaginable. Emy stood there gaping in awe before realising that his aim was to find Anna. He looked out through the dusty windows and saw many people wandering around in thick coats and hats. He began to realise how cold he was. On the chair next to him was a thick heavy coat, he slipped it on. It was far too big for him, the hem dragged on the ground and the sleeve covered well past his hands, but he liked it. He opened the door and began to walk purposefully.

The crowd was milling around the street, there seemed to be no flow of people but then he caught a glimpse of red. The dull greens and blues of people's coats made the red coat stick out, and without a doubt that was Anna. Emy walked straight after her.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Emy hurried along after Anna, being careful to stay far enough back as not to be seen without losing sight of her. Then Suddenly she disappeared into a building. Emy ran over then waited before opening the door. It was warm inside, a faint musty smell of old wallpaper hung in the air. The once white wallpaper was stained yellow from smoke. A flash of red caught Emy's eye. Anna had just disappeared into a room on his left. Emy crept over and put his eye to the key hole.

Another man was in the room he was far taller than her and had a thick beard covering his face. He reached in a hugged her, then they were kissing. Emy tried to turn his face away in disgust but couldn't his eyes were glued to the scene in front of him. With a shrug of her shoulders Anna now stood naked, the red coat falling away beneath her. A round pair of buttocks followed up in beautiful curves to her small pokey breasts. She turned around facing him now, Emy could see a small, black triangle of pubic hair. Before he could do anything Anna was back kissing the now naked man.

The two were locked in their embrace, her breasts against his chest and her lips against his. Emy had to force himself not to charge in there and stop this all. To his horror, the situation became worse. The man lifted her up and sat her on the table. She widened her legs. Emy now could watch no more.

He turned and left. Emy walked carefully through the crowd careful not to catch the eye of any strangers. Emy had never not got what he wanted. He had thought he was special to her, he had thought she wanted him. Not who ever would pay the most. How could he have been so stupid. As Emy entered the bookshop and climbed back into the grate he felt the sting of tears on his face. Emy hurried back to the medicine room and curled up tight in a ball. His face stung from the pain of moving his back some more and from the tear which now flowed freely between sobs.

Emy did not know how long it was before Anna returned, but he had stopped sobbing. Anna crawled through the grate and stood up smartly in the room.

"Your still here then, I thought after seeing what you had just seen me do you would have left me and my excellent escape plan."

Emy said nothing

"So you're choosing to ignore me eh? Fine by me. However if you really must know there was no love behind that, there was only purpose."

Emy was now interested but was to bitter to say anything.

"Fine I shall rub more ointment into your back and go"

Anna rubbed some more of the green smelly paste into his back. Her warm hands melted his heart and he was tempted to ask her what she meant. True to her word Anna left. And so too did Emy. Emy returned to his bunk room, the unadorned walls of sheer steel. A few rugs lay on the floor for the hardest working of the slaves as a form of reward. It was in his patch of steel Emy now huddled and fell to sleep.

10000 miles away Sultan Timbuktu was sad. He lay in bed one arm resting across the breasts of a concubine the other across the warm pubic hair of another concubine. Despite being surrounded by all this happiness the Sultan was sadder than ever. He missed Emy more than anything. They had had great fun visiting the static cities of the Sud. Their semi-nomadic days in the _Sultan Topaas_, flying from city to city, acting as diplomatic envoys for the Sultan's Uncle who was the then Sultan Timbuktu.

Just as the Sultan Timbuktu was about to fall asleep there was a clear rap on the door. The two guards opened it and stood to attention. In came the Sultan's chief of staff. He had a serious look on his face

"Sir, you'll be glad to know that we have picked up an old man who claims to have knowledge of the Emir's presence." The sultan rolled over one of his concubines who groaned lightly then stood up feeling the cold air blowing around his naked body. He grabbed his robes and set off without speaking.

"Sir he's in the chamber not the dungeon. We figured he wasn't a threat to you or security."

As the Sultan entered the chamber a wave of shit, vomit, sweat and just about every other bodily excrement overcame him. The man who stood in front of him has about five feet tall and carried a backpack the size of a small horse on his back.

"Might not be a threat to my security but certainly a threat to my 50th century rugs" the sultan muttered under his breath which attracted a smile from one of his guards. "Good evening to you dear traveller, I believe you have some information regarding the whereabouts of my son?"

"That I do sir," His voice was husky yet high, clearly the poor old man had not spoken to any one in a very long time. "After the _Koramba Prize_ fought off the 7 black airships she crashed unexpectedly. A different twin ballooned airship landed dispatching the many desert raiders you saw dead. They attacked the crashed airship and eventually fought through, though your guard killed many of them with his bare hands before being taken."

"Is that all?" The king asked disappointed "I worked out as much from seeing the wreckage!" The sultan could feel his temper rising

"It is all I will say for the fee of the wine you have given me" The man said gesturing toward an empty wine skin. "If you want to know the original berth of this other airship then you will have to offer me citizenship within your city, I rather like the little house down by the airship berth that was up for sale. I shall set up an old tech store there and I shall only bother you with the best old tech for your grandson, for I know he is a little genius with old tech."

"You seem to know lots for a simple traveller... tell me how you know so much."

"A trade secret if you don't mind, I will be off if you have not considered my offer thoroughly."

"I will propose a counter offer, in exchange for a house and shop, you will tell me what the original berthing of the balloon is and evidence to prove that you are not a filthy lying creep, do I make myself clear?"

"Quite clear, Arkangel," the man reached inside his tattered garments, the guards tensed expecting a weapon to be drawn, "pah, don't worry I'm not pulling a gun on my dearest Sultan, as you now are, simply this." The man proudly produced a small notebook. The Sultan took it, it was old and heavily used, a faded colour cover read 'Airship Spot & Colour for Kids!'. The Sultan sighed, flicking through the pages, before regaining interest realising what detail this child's book went into. On each page was a make of airship, usually black and white, though sometimes coloured in. Beneath each was a set of technical specification and identification numbers. "If I may, my liege, suggest you look at page 748, that is the airship that took away your grandson."

Upon closer inspection of this page the Sultan realised that one of the Identification numbers had been ringed: '74599560472002'. He gestured to a guard to copy the number down and research it's berthing.

"You see, I am quite organised with my balloon spotting. There is no need to research it, the 7459 indicates The North, the 956 a traction city, and 047 Arkangel, and the 2002 the individual berthing. Now then I shall be off." With this the man tried to leave, he did a series of wild turns before returning to his original position. "Can someone show me the way out, I'm lost already!"

That night in Arkangel Emy was preparing for another cold night when WakTu appeared. He seemed happy even if Emy was not.

"Got you a little present little one." With this he produced a thick heavy blanket. Emy did his best to look pleased and grateful and snuggled up underneath it. Within seconds he was asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Emy awoke, vaguely aware of someone close by to him. The soft pitter patter of bare feet was getting closer. Emy lay there silently ignoring them until there was a blast of cold air as someone lifted his blanket and climbed into his bed with him. The person mirrored his slightly bent legs and shuffled closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her naked breasts smiling to himself.

"I'm sorry about earlier," She whispered "I owe you an apology, but I promise that it was nothing against you, against us. As Emy remained silent she continued: "I see him regularly, he owns the airship junk yard, yesterday I stole some keys which I have already made copies of, and I shall then return them today. Soon we can leave, I promise" With this she rolled to face him.

She leant forward, her moist lips pressing into his, her breasts were now pressing into his chest and before he knew what was happening he felt a pair of warm hands slide into his trousers. He returned the favour feeling his way between her. Settling in this position they fell back to sleep.

When Emy awoke she was gone, but he knew that she loved him and she was just using this man he had seen her with today. Emy was happy. Emy wanted to work today but WakTu forbade it. Instead Emy was forced to stay in the medicine room. He decided to follow Anna again this time she knew he was following her and he sat in the bookshop reading. He had loved reading, although he found Anglish a bit hard to understand compared to the simpler Aramaic of his native town he began to understand the history of Arkangel.

When she returned she was smiling. She reached inside her red coat and produced a crumpled picture she had taken somehow.

"This is our escape!" She proclaimed vigorously.

"That, but it's a pile of junk!"

"Oi, that has taken me years to perfect, I started soliciting that stupid guy when I was just ten! Five years of hard work and you say she's junk. This junk baby is the Jenny Haniver and this is our ticket out of here!"

"What you made her!"

"Yeah, well I'm not just stealing some old thing someone else has used!"  
"That's incredible, you made all that yourself! How, you must be a genius at old tech and stuff too."

"Old tech?"

"Yeah, you know stuff left over from the ancients. Stuff way more complicated than our own. In Timbuktu all the alchemists teach me how to interact with it. It's really cool."

"My airship has none of that. It's just a normal airship."

"Okay, but how do you fire the missiles and stuff?"

"Missiles, my airship doesn't have missiles silly it just has simple engines, it's only going to get us out of here then, with this" She gestured to a bag she produced from nowhere "We can buy a proper airship!"

"Wow, what are you calling your airship?"  
"The Jenny Haniver."

"What a weird name, where's it come from?"

"My parents died when I was young, so I was adopted by my Aunt and Uncle, they used to fly the bird routes but then one day the airship crashed and we were captured by the northern people they sold us to Arkangel. They died a few years ago; my aunt was called Jenny Haniver."

"That's so sad and unfortunate." Emy said leaning over and hugging Anna. As they returned through the vent Emy and Anna could hear voices in the medicine room, it did not sound good.

"Where are they?"

"I dunno, what are we gonna do? Gregor will kill us if he knows that two slaves have escaped."

"We don't tell him, he don't count 'em does he?"

"It'll be fine we just say they died or summin', but if he finds out the truth we're screwed"

"Stop worryin' Igor I promise it'll be fine."

"Okay" The two men moved on, still talking about Anna and him. Emy turned round to look at Anna, who had a look of horror on her face.

"What are we going to do?"

"Simple we just return back and say that we were somewhere."

"That's never gonna work, they see through straight away, we'll be killed basically on the spot!"  
"Don't be silly, those two are so stupid that they'd fall for anything we told them!"

"Nope, we go tonight."  
"But I haven't told WakTu about any of this yet."

"He'll just have to deal with it, I'll get you tonight when I am ready, do not get noticed by any of the guards though, there not as dense as they look."

With that Anna turned around and disappeared, leaving Emy to crawl warily out into the medicine room. That night as soon as WakTu walked in Emy began to explain:

"WakTu, we are leaving tonight, I have made a plan with a friend, she has an airship, we are leaving tonight okay. She will come and get us."

"Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. You have made a plan to escape, definitely a dangerous plan, and not told me. This is ridiculous."  
"Oh shut up, it's fine we are ready, we could do it all by ourselves without you, just I am not leaving you behind."

"hang who is this friend? Can she be trusted?"

"She's the girl from medicine room, the nurse, and of course she can be trusted."

"I don't like the sound of this, there is something too easy about it..."

"Fine don't come, be stuck here forever, I'll go home to my nice comfy bed without you." And with that Emy stormed off, upset and angry that WakTu was so distrustful and careful. Emy wandered around aimlessly for a couple of hours. He was as asked by Anna wary of the guards and just took one last look around at the slave bay he would be leaving soon.

He returned to his bed late to find WakTu sitting waiting for him.

"Night Night, WakTu, see you in the mornin'... later." All Emy got in reply was an affirmative grunt. Emy lay there trying to sleep and completely unable to. He lay there waiting and waiting for Anna to come. Eventually he drifted off into an uneasy nervous sleep. He dreamt of WakTu refusing to let him leave and of the airship not working.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Emy woke to not a gentle kiss from Anna as he had expected instead a rough pair of hands picking him up. It was a guard. Emy began to struggle but it was too late for that. His legs flew wildly as the man simply lifted him up off the ground. His legs continued to fly wildly until one struck WakTu. WakTu was quick to get to his feet as another guard attempted to assail him from behind. WakTu simply spun around in a neat bove and with a clear punch to the chin the guard collapsed to the floor. In a blink of an eye WakTu was on the guard holding Emy, in a far neater move WakTu grabbed one of the guards arms which allowed Emy wriggle free. WakTu wrenched the arm above and around the mans head forcing it unnaturally far behind his back into there was a crunch. The guard screamed before WakTu kneed him in the face and watched him too crumple.

WakTu's fights had always used to interest Emy but now he was keen just to get away. He gestured to WakTu to follow him. He headed toward the medicine room. On the way WakTu took out two more guards each with neat punches to the chin. He entered the medicine room only to find no-one there.

The _Sultan Topaas_ docked in the city of Anchorage before carrying on to Arkangel. Where ever she went she attracted lots of attention, rarely did anyone see such a huge airship. When the _Sultan Topaas_ reached Arkangel it was pitch black. The crew who were used to the heat of the Sahara were shocked by the temperature, but the trained men left the giant airship without a word. The guards of the airdock were taken aback by the heavily armed men before calling for reinforcements and locking themselves in the ticket office.

Fifteen men in blue overalls ran up to the airdock, clutching steam rifles they didn't know what to expect. As they ran up the ramps to the airdock they were confronted by a neat formation of soldiers. One soldier who had a neat plume of red coming out from his helmet stepped forward.

"Men of Arkangel, lower your weapons, we are not here for your deaths." His voice was commanding and clear. The guards looked to their sergeant who in return looked to them for support.

"St-ta-ate your name and purpose." The sergeant finally managed to stammer in a high and rushed voice

"We are the guards of the royal Sultan Timbuktu, we are here to collect our Emir. He was taken by slave traders to here."

"Well I don't have the authority to release slaves, so you will have to go to the slave office."

"You," the chief of the guard said "will take me there or I will ensure that you don't ever make it there."

"R-r-right this way sir," The guard stammered. Gesturing for his men to fall in with him and another man ran on ahead to announce his arrival to the slave office.

The slave office was a square concrete building with very few windows in the arctic half-light it appeared as an ancient sugar cube which had gone a strange grey colour. Inside the guard ran in panting and began to address the officer of the watch who sat behind a desk in front of the door.

"Sir, there's these random dudes, there heavily armed no match for our guards, they're asking for some random guy called the Emir of Timbuktu. They are not pleased you need to get him up here now."

"You think we keep the names of all our slaves, there are 250,000 down there what do you propose I do?"

"Bring up some random one they won't know, he's already threatened to lop the head off of the sergeant." The officer of the watch thought about it and then proclaimed;

"I believe your right that might just do."

The troop of royal guard walked in escorted by the handful of Arkangel's guards. Ready to meet them was the officer of the watch and a young boy. The young boy instantly ran forward;

"Thank god you are here, it has been horrible, I'm so glad you came to rescue me."

"You see," the officer of the watch began, "we can easily come to an agreement..." Before the officer of the watch could finish the chief of the guard swung his sword in a high arc bringing it down and through the young boy's neck. With a thickening thud the decapitated head hit the floor and rolled toward the feet of the officer of the watch. With that the royal guards marched out. The room remained in stunned silence.

Below the decks of the great city Emy had discovered a flaw with his plan. WakTu was never going to fit down the pipe he and Anna had so neatly crawled along. And more over where was Anna? As Emy stood there trying to think of a plan.

"I could cut around the back through the main enterence, I could take on the guards easily then meet up with you outside."

"No, I have a better idea, you take the guards uniform then just walk out. Simple, what could possibly go wrong?"WakTu smiled at this then replied;

"Don't tempt fate, I shall see you there."

Emy crawled carefully through the vent wondering why the guard had accosted him in the night. Wondering if WakTu had managed to escape. And above all wondering where Anna was. Emy had a feeling that Anna had been caught and he would have to free her. Emy smiled, at least that would prove what a hero he was.

As Emy left the bookshop wearing the big green coat, WakTu appeared. He was fine and Emy let out a long sigh of relief. Now all that remained was to find Anna and the Jenny Haniver. WakTu and Emy began to walk up the street toward the house he had seen Anna in when he heard shouting from behind. He turned round to see the royal guard marching down the street. A look of delight crossed Emy's face as he stepped forward and began waving and shouting.

"Hey, I'm here, It's me! Look I'm here, I'm alive." Emy recognised the guards' captain and began shouting "Laku, it's me, it's me the Emir." A look of recognition crossed the guards face before they started a jog toward him. "Safe at last, eh, WakTu?"


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Back in Timbuktu the Sultan awoke from his shattered dream. His head was spinning. He tried to swing his legs of his bed only to find himself tied there. He swore, he hadn't remembered playing around with Tanya. The door opened and in came his Chief of Staff.

"Good to see you," the Sultan smiled, slightly embarrassed, "I appear to be in stuck here and I was wondering if you could untie me?"

"Why should I, I tied you up quite neatly I thought." The Sultan smiled taking this to be part of the Chief of Staff's dry sense of humour. But when the Chief of Staff did not return the smile he began to worry.

"I'm sorry I just asked you to untie and last time I checked, I was the Sultan and everyone listened to me."

"No longer, I'm now Sultan you tragically committed suicide last night anguished at the death of your grandson."

"You're a traitor!"

"It has taken you long enough!" The Chief of Staff laughed "I dispatched the airships to attack the _Kombola Prize,_ They were unfortunately very inefficient but none the less it seemed your Grandson hadn't survived, but then that pesky traveller arrived. The Royal Guard you dispatched to Arkangel were actually under my command so they should have killed the Emir by now so that just about sums it up. I have already arranged a state funeral for you. The only thing is you're not yet dead." With this speech the Chief of staff strolled forward and plunged a knife into the stomach of the old Sultan. The Sultan tried to speak, trying to grab a few breaths desperately straining against the knots before his struggling ceased. The new Sultan walked out. Two soldiers walked in and lifted the body ceremoniously onto their shoulder and marched him out the door to the royal morgue.

In Arkangel the royal guard switched toward a run and began to run toward Emy. A big smile cracked across Emy's lips as he turned to look at WakTu, he realised WakTu no longer stood behind him. WakTu was suddenly in front of him, his legs placed neatly apart in a combat stance. Emy wondered what was wrong.

"WakTu, what are you doing?"

"Run Emy, Run, they're not here to rescue you their here to kill you run!"

Emy turned and began to run, he never questioned WakTu's orders like that, he knew that he was always right. Emy disappeared into the crowd as the first Royal Guard ploughed into WakTu. Despite wearing full armour and being heavily armed WakTu began to systematically render them useless like they were toys. A two fingered jab between helmet and breast plate caused one guard to topple unconscious. Another was knocked out by his own spear which WakTu had swung in a beautiful arc toward his head. But now WakTu was on the offensive more of the guard were against him he was outnumbered more and more. Then the inevitable happened. While WakTu deflected one spear blow another caught him unawares. Its razor sharp edge left a neat hole in his side. It looked like WakTu was done, he staggered before rallying. WakTu returned to the offensive drawing a sword from a downed guard we parried a series of spear blows before jabbing the sword into one soldier neck drawing a large splatter of blood.

Emy hid behind some crates silently cheering WakTu on. His face was a look of determination but his mind was full of confusion. Why were his guards attacking him? WakTu in a clear arc decapitated another guard. But was rewarded with another spear wound in his stomach. Emy now knew that WakTu was not going to make and was trying to buy Emy time. Emy stood up from his hiding place leaving a prayer to the starry gods asking for WakTu's victory. Before running to the place he had seen Anna enter just a few days before. He wondered over to the door which he had spied her soliciting from then spotted her. She was tied to a chair and gagged beside her sat two guards one was reading a newspaper, the other seemed very bored. Emy tried to think of a plan. He felt vulnerable without WakTu to protect him. The absence of WakTu also scuppered his usual plan to defeat the guards. He would just have to be cleverer that was all. Emy looked around then saw his plan formulate. He reached up and unhooked the only source of illumination for the hall way: an oil lamp. An incendiary grenade, the alchemists had made these for the royal guard to use when storming cities. Everyone and everything was scared of fire they had reasoned. As Emy gripped it tighter he felt the glass burning his hand. Emy knew he had to act with speed. So in one fluid motion he opened the door and threw the lamp in hearing smash with a satisfying yelp from the guards Emy guessed it had taken hold. He waited to the side of the door as the two guards ran out one's leg on fire the other's back on fire. Emy strolled boldly in acting like a hero and walked up to Anna, before realising how quickly everything was burning. He ran over to Anna and began to try and set her free before realising that he didn't have anything to cut the bonds with and that the knots would take to long to undo. He swore, grabbing the entire chair simply dragging it out the room with him. As he left the room burning he simply closed the door and began to attack Anna's bounds. It didn't take as long as expected but it took long enough for Emy to hear shouts of more guards approaching.

"Quick Emy, out the back!" Cried Anna standing up rubbing her wrists. Emy followed her through the narrow corridors of the building.

As Emy through his grenade WakTu received a third wound this one passing all the way through. He grabbed the spear and hauled it further into him drawing the guard also toward him and in an impressive upper thrust of his sword he split the guard's helmet and face clean in two. WakTu felt his knees giving way and in one final gesture of defiance cut another guard's leg off with a swoop of his sword. WakTu knew that he had done his job well as the captain of the guard thrust his spear into his throat and WakTu closed his eyes for the final time.

Emy and Anna burst out into a back alley, Anna gestured for him to follow her and she walked briskly in the direction of the scrap yard. Emy felt a tear well up in his eye. WakTu was dead.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

The scrap yard was stereotypical in Emy's mind, piled high with metal carcasses of old burnt out airships and bugs. Anna walked purposefully toward a large metal container but Emy had got distracted. He jumped over the bonnet of a bug and ran over to a large box. Emy had seen this box before, he knew it. It was quite large but fairly light so he picked it up and began to chase after Anna, which was harder than it looked when he couldn't see his feet and the debris on the ground.

Anna's face was a look of impatience at the edge of the large container.

"In here is my pride and my joy. My airship, my Jenny Haniver." Anna began Emy smirked and laughing said

"That was so cliché!"

"Shut up you" she said throwing a light punch which Emy caught and pulled her round into an embrace. "How did you fin...?" She began before Emy silenced her with a kiss.

"Guess work" Emy said with a smile before dropping his smile and adding "and sacrifice"

"Where's your friend you said was coming?" She asked

"He was the sacrifice" Anna gave him a puzzled look "My own people have turned against me. The royal guard, my royal guard were sent to kill me. I ran toward them thinking they were here to rescue me but then WakTu leapt before me. They killed him. He died to save..." Emy trailed off.

"It's okay Emy. What's in the trunk?" She said trying to change the subject.

"I've seen it before, I have a feeling it'll be useful. But for the moment I cannot remember."

"Cool! I shall go in and start inflating the balloon you can wonder around and see if there is anything you want here. I'm sure there's stuff that is useful that I have missed!" Anna said sensing that Emy wanted some solitude. "It should take about half an hour." Emy wandered off into the dark. His initial aim was to find something interesting like some old-tech. It was unlikely here though, Old-tech was expensive and no-one left it to go to waste just like that.

Emy sat down on the rusted hulk that had belonged to a bug, once, this car would have sped along the roads but now it lay rusting, its past forgotten. Emy sat there wrapped in his coat thinking. What he was thinking about he was never sure but he enjoyed the quiet time. Emy lay there turning his attention to the stars. The light of the city obscured most of the more delicate stars but he traced his finger over the American Space Station (ASS). It was the brightest star in the sky. The ASS was supposedly the biggest space station ever built. It had, miraculously, remained untouched by the 60-minute war. Its crew had frozen to death unable to escape. Historian argued over its size, some said up to a mile in length others said just thirty meters. The general consensus was around five hundred meters though.

Emy had always wanted to go to Australia. It was said Australia had been the least hit by the 60-minute war. The cities were semi-static but far more high-tech than the traction cities which ran on anything they could grab and burn. There were even rumours that one city had adapted a slow bomb to detonate so slowly it could be used as a fuel for the city. Emy loved playing with old tech; he had a natural aptitude for making it work.

Emy walked over to the Jenny Haniver. Her balloon was almost full. Anna was there.

"She is almost ready to lift off you can go inside. I put your trunk in your room."

"My room, you have separate rooms for guest to stay, that's fantastic!"

"Yeah, I have a medical bay, two bedrooms and a large lounge around bridge as well as a hold inside the air balloon"

"Wow" Emy said over his shoulder as he ran inside to investigate his room, and the airship. It had, what at first appeared to be a bunk-bed then upon closer inspection transpired to be a cabin bunk with a desk underneath. Tucked neatly in one corner was the white plastic trunk he had found earlier. Emy still could not remember where he had seen it before. Emy crouched down and carefully undid the three clasps that held it shut. The lid popped open. Emy lifted the lid and looked inside. It was empty. Emy was thoroughly disappointed by its lack of contents, but on the other hand what had he being expecting; a fortune's worth of old tech? No one would be stupid enough to throw that away.

Emy stood up and wandered over to Anna. "Just going out again, I'll be right back."

"You better not be long, she'll be ready for takeoff in about two minutes."

"I won't" Emy said over his shoulder already exiting the airship. Emy broke into a trot as he ran toward the gate. He had just a few minutes to complete his task.

The streets of Arkangel were deserted. Thin smog produced large orbs around the street lamps. Emy slipped out through the small door Anna had opened with her skeleton key she had stolen and into the street. Across the street was a clothes shop. Emy ran toward, taking his coat off has he ran. He wrapped his coat around his hand and smashed the large glass front in. He climbed in carefully through the smashed window and began gathering as many items of clothing as possible. He grabbed a mixture of sizes and a mixture of garments for different weathers and a mixture for him and Anna. With his arms full he carefully stepped out of the shop window.

"Oi!" Someone shouted. Emy looked around, two guards were charging down the street toward him. "Stop thief!" Emy began running as fast as he could toward the little gate he had come through. There was a dead lock on the other side which he could use to slow them down. Emy ran. He began panting and breathing heavily. It wasn't far, he kept telling himself almost out loud. He felt a familiar pain in his chest and legs as his body protested about the lack of air and the sudden exercise. Emy was less than ten meters away, less than eight, less than five. He was going to make it. Emy jumped for the last meter. But then a terrible thought crossed his mind: he had jumped too early; he wasn't going to make it. The door stood open, making a mockery of his stupidity, then before Emy could realise a hand grabbed his collar pulled him inside and bolted the door.

"What kind of a stunt was that?" Growled the face which was now inches from his. "Do you wanna escape or not. I wouldn't be stupid just to leave you behind, your nuffin' but trouble!"

"Sorry," Was all Emy could manage initially then he began to formulate a reply "We are woefully underprepared for Perfume Harbour: two great coats and one pair of slave garments. They'll put up wanted notices for us and everything. We need some way to blend in at least a little bit!"

Anna began to reply when she heard shouting from outside the gate.

"They ran in here."

"I bet it's those pesky escaped slaves"

"They've locked the door."

"It's fine, they can't go anywhere. One way in, one way out my scrap yard is."

"Quick Emy into the airship," Whispered Anna. They'll bring down a battering ram in no time. As soon as she had muttered these words, there was an almighty boom on the door. The whole gate shuddered. The battering ram had already arrived.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

The scrap yard was penetrated by a large crash as the gate was toppled into a pile of rusting bugs. They narrowly missed the Jenny Hanniver. There were two huge men carrying the battering ram that had crushed the gate. Behind them were several more large men one of them was carrying a steam pistol, he was clearly the leader.

"What in the dog's bollocks is that?"

"It's an airship you dufus"

"Oi! Don't call me a dufus; you're the one who thought that Barcelona was in Spain!"

The two men who had carried the battering ram dropped it and were threatening to start fighting. The man with the pistol ignored them as he charged toward the Jenny Hanniver. Emy ran, toward the Jenny Hanniver as he watched Anna raise the flaps and the huge scarlet balloon began to carry the airship upward. She ran to the door and held out her hand as the airship rose to about 3 feet off the dust.

Her hand reached down and clasped neatly around his wrists. As he jumped, she pulled and the two of them fell into the narrow metal corridor of the ship. They were safe.

Suddenly the man with a pistol appeared in the hatch. He was clinging on by his fingers. In his panic to grab on the pistol had flown across the floor. Emy picked it up and pointed it at him. Emy felt his hand shaking. _What was he going to do? Could he pull the trigger? Was he capable of taking a life?_ Before he could answer this Anna screamed at him:

"Get into the cockpit; I'll deal with this fool. Pull the green leaver back-and forth a few times then press the silver button marked '_start'. _You got that?"

"Sure!" Emy replied. And he disappeared down the corridor. Anna smiled and looked down at the man in the doorway. It was now too high for him to let go, she reached behind her great coat and pulled out a thin blade. In a smooth movement brought it slashing down across the man's face. She smiled as he screamed bringing both hands up to his face clutching where his right eye had been. She laughed when his face betrayed his dull realisation that he had let go. She didn't bother to watch him fall all the way, but left smiling.

Emy had only just managed to start the engines, and Anna slipped into the chair next to him and steered the airship south-east. They were going to perfume harbour.

"That was close." Smiled Emy

"What's an escape without a little bit of action?"

"A good, well-planned escape?" Retorted Emy

The winds were calm at such an altitude, but the slaves garments were no protection against the northern weather, especially at such altitude.

"Why don't we go to bed? I can see your cold. I'll lock down the rudders that'll keep us coasting to perfume harbour, or wherever we're going?" Emy nodded through his chattering teeth.

Emy was grateful for the thick blankets, despite their roughness. He began to snuggle down, just like he had in his bed in Timbuktu. This was the first time that he felt the adrenaline dying down. He began to feel the real feelings of his situation. Where was he going to go now? Timbuktu was under someone else's control. WakTu was dead. The only thing he had left was Anna and even then he seemed to view her through a veil. He began to feel physical pain too. He reached up and felt an egg sized lump on his head where he had smashed into something he couldn't even remember. As he felt these thoughts beginning to wear him down there was a knock on the door and it opened.

Standing in the doorway was Anna. Wearing a flowing dress from the collection he had stolen. He could see the curves of her waist. The dress itself was short, barely covering her underwear, which Emy noted that she was wearing none, before stopping with barely enough material to cover her beautiful breasts which could be seen poking out through her dress, small and perfect silhouetted by the moonlight. She walked over to him her bare feet making soft padding sounds on the bare metal floor.

Emy, could have sworn he was dreaming if it were not for the fact that he could feel her moist lips on his, her tongue pushing against his lips, which he parted. Her lips remained firmly planted on his as she swung her legs up onto the bed and straddled him. The kiss continued as she wriggled her arms out of her dress. Her bare breasts were beautifully silhouetted by the moon. She broke off he kiss as she drew back his blankets revealing his naked body. She looked down and carefully lowered herself onto him. Emy felt himself roll like a wave with pleasure as he forced them to roll over with him on top. She continued to writhe under him as he continued to push himself upon her. He felt himself holding on, suppressing the feeling to just let go. She smiled and panted

"it's okay, just let go" Emy didn't wait to be told twice. He released himself in a series of violent spasms feeling the ecstasy flow out of himself into her. She smiled sharing the moment of ecstasy before collapsing with another long kiss on his lips, their energy spent.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Perfume Harbour was a strange collection of wooden building stretching hundreds of feet into the air strangely attached to a series of upward pipes, a complete oxymoron of physics. The many airships created a spray of colour attached the dull rust and wood of perfume harbour. The Jenny Hanniver was just one of these hundreds of ships. She was just another blot of colour.

Emy had woken with a smile on his face despite the death of all that he had known. He had witnessed the birth of a new relationship. He looked at her, she was still lying next to him: her black hair framing her face. Emy was happy.

Emy was still remembering this happiness and the previous night when he entered into the butchers. He bought them some sausages for breakfast, and as he reached into his pocket he felt his hands clasp around something else: the pistol. He smiled, why pay? They were already fugitives, why try hard to be a good person. He strolled in boldly before grabbing the pistol and pointed it in the air and fired it. There were screams before everyone turned around and looked at him.

"This is a stick up!" he cried, smiling at the idea, remembering the stories he had read as a child. There were some more screams before he walked forward to the fat man behind the counter. The man seemed a lot bigger now "empty the till into my hands" Emy continued, still smiling but he could feel the sweat beginning to pour down his face. As a series of fat fingers fisted out handfuls of gold coins into a sack Emy had grabbed from the counter. Emy turned to leave, still smiling, but he was cold and could feel his clothes sticking to his skin and was soaking wet. He ran, feeling the adrenaline drive his muscles faster than they could ever go, he could tell they were crying out for more air burning, but he couldn't feel it. He charged down the main street. People yelled various obscenities after him as he barged into them sending the goods and shopping flying. There was no-one pursuing him but he enjoyed the thrill none the less.

He ran toward the Jenny's mooring tower and he stopped dead in his tracks. She was leaving, the unmistakable scarlet envelope drifting off. The hum of its motors indistinguishable from all the other engines. What was happening? Where was she going? Emy charged toward the mooring tower faster than ever. He didn't wait to continue up the tower to his mooring dock. He ran to the first one he could find, pulling out the pistol as he went. The airship was a small trader, with a dull tan coloured envelope. On guard was a fat man holding a shotgun. Without a blink of his eye Emy opened fire. He fired 3 shots two ricochet off something metallic the other hitting the guard in his shoulder. He fell back off the mooring dock down toward the rest of Perfume Harbour. A few seconds later there were some screams as his body thudded to the floor.

As Emy ran into the control room he started the engines, they rattled at first and Emy swore at them until the engine caught and the propellers began to run. The airship was away. He pushed the lever forward and felt the airship begin to accelerate. The Jenny Hanniver was faster he could tell but she was following the designated safe flight route. He could head her off. He began to cut across Perfume Harbour. The airship was surprisingly nimble and he was able to slalom through the high mooring towers. Heading toward the Jenny Hanniver.

On the Jenny Hanniver Anna felt the warm trickle run down her face and thought she was bleeding. She realised she was crying. She had never liked Emy so why was she so upset. She felt a sudden wave of nausea pass through her., and it took every ounce of strength to prevent herself from chucking up all over the cockpit. Her head was full of emotions and her mind was spinning. She wasn't well, but what had caused it? Anna gulped, what had happened between her and Emy was nothing in her mind except a favour she owed him, she had always done it. That was how she had got most of the parts to her airship, but now she felt different, she felt a desire to stay with Emy. She liked his young naivety, but that wasn't it. She must find him. It was the last thing her parents had told her. She knew this was greater than the life of one little boy. It was back to the North she must go. At the northern end of the Dead Continent lay Canadia, she must get to Canadia.

Emy could feel something was wrong before the warning light came on. The airship was becoming unresponsive. The warning light came on seconds later. The fuel tank was empty. But how? The airship had been full when he started, he had checked. Then it dawned on him. The airship had been refuelling, he had done the classic blonde aviatrix: He had flown off with the pump still in the airship! The fuel had literally just flown out as he swung from side to side inbetween the giant and lethal slalom. How was he going to catch the Jenny and Anna?

Emy slowly realised what had happened. Anna had run off. She had never been interested in him, she had just felt pity for him. Emy pushed the accelerator up giving the airship one last push before the propellers began to spin idly. Emy felt the tears run down his face. He remembered her face. He imagined its neat framing of black hair. He missed her. Emy steered the airship on its final course. The tears continued down his face. He was wrong. He had lost everything. His city had fallen to a coup d'état, his only friend had died to save him, Anna had never loved him. The tears ran down his face, they felt like acid. He locked down the steering paddles. His face was grim in its determination.

Anna was still wondering about what was wrong with her when something lit up in the corner of her eye. One of the mooring was a huge ball of orange fire. An airship had crashed into. The fireball shot upward feeding off the lifting gas and the aviation fuel. Balloons were popping in a comic look before the flames caught them sending more smaller fire balls upward. Who had crashed into a mooring tower, the idiot, she thought to herself.

Emy had crashed with a relatively small force into mooring tower 13. The people of Perfume Harbour had always said never to build a tower called 13, they had proved right. The initial impact didn't kill Emy. He was hurled through the windscreen of the airship. As he summersaulted through the air he watched the envelope rupture and the fuel tanks explode before he was a engulfed in cooling flame of the explosion

"I'm pregnant" screamed Anna in dull realisation. She felt the tears run down her face harder than before. She shouldn't have left Emy. Then she realised who had just crashed into mooring tower 13.


	10. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

The cold hand on her shoulder pushed her forward.

"Shrike…" she tried to speak, her voice sounded how her eyes looked: raw and pained

"Shh, Anna, it is for the best, she cannot live with us, it will ruin my plan, I'm sorry. This way she has a chance at life."

"But I don't even know her yet" Shrikes eyes flashed red and the claws shot out from his hands. He hated not being able to hide his emotions, he needed to gain the child's trust and show compassion but he couldn't.

"I had my children torn away from me a long time ago Anna" Shrike panicked. _Had he? Who were his children? Where did they come from? Who were they? Was this why he loved Anna, because she reminded him of his daughter? Did he have a daughter? What was she called? _Shrike lost his patience with himself. _Where were these memories coming from?_ He lost it too with Anna. "If you don't hand that child over I will do it myself and it will not be pretty because I will hand it over to the butchers!" Shrike yelled. It was enough to get Anna moving

She walked slowly over to the orphanarioum and looked down at the baby's eyes. The baby looked a lot like her. It had the same narrow eyes and tanned skin from her oriental heritage except the freckles and the green eyes. Those belonged to Emy. A tear crept to her eye, whether it was for Emy or the baby she did not know. She pulled out a charcoal pen and wrote on its forehead: _Sophi, please look after her_.


End file.
